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Origin or no?

Hiya. So what do we think? Should the movie be one long origin, or should it just jump in to a good story? I'll use Grant Morrison's All Star Superman beginning as an example of how it could work (Doomed planet, kindly couple, etc). Or like the second Hulk movie. The origin was in the opening credits. I think this could work. Just get to the meat of a story. Agree?

I think they do origin stories because they are pretty paint by numbers as far as writing the story goes.

Generally speaking I would prefer them to kind of flush through it fairly quickly, largely because in ways I don't see He-mans origin story being all the complex.

One Gum Drop to rule them all, One Gum Drop to find them,
One Gum Drop to bring them all and in the sweetness bind them
In the Land of Candy where the Gingerbreads lie.
-Tag line for the Candy Land Movie Adaptation

I think the argument here is the difference between an ideal movie and an ideal TV show.
..(not that I try to encourage arguments)

The answer would be in the planning I think.
You would need to determine how much character 'beginings' or 'growth' are needed to tell a one-movie story.
Who are the characters that you feel really need explanation and how they effect/affect eachother the most.
Then decide how much time that is going to take up and if that is most of that 'one-movie thought'.
After ALOT of thinking, it looks like two movies, ..so a begining and an end.
There is now a choice between a happy ending or a sad ending. (eg. Shakspeare: Death or Marriage).

Oh, and then you can sit around, not knowing who to talk to about your plan, while those idiots in Hollywood stomp all over your favorite kids show.

It should be an epic similar to what's described by Joseph Campbell in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." Ther hero's journey can be explained by doing the traditional super-hero origin of He-Man or without, but either way it needs to have a beginning and an ending.

I feel is absolutely has to be an origin story. Think Superman from 1978... it's the build up to becoming Superman that gives such a pay off when he finally comes on screen.

Basically, take the 1987 movie's start - Skeletor taking control of Eternia with his tyranny, expanding his darkness over the planet

Then throw in a bit of Prince Adam grows up unaware of the growing terror. The threat builds to such a level that Adam proves himself to be worthy of the Sword of Grayskull (god I hope they don't call it the Sword of He), by venturing to Castle Grayskull, a once thought abandoned castle from ancient times.

He is granted the sword by the Sorceress, who cannot leave Grayskull in any form until someone came to prove themself worthy of the sword (there can be a flashback of some sort of curse, maybe thrown in King Grayskull or King Hsss references here). She grants Adam the sword but does not tell him how to use it (think Secret of the Sword here), she just tells him she is granting him the sword "by the power of Grayskull".

Adam uses the sword in combat, not knowing of it's ultimate power until a pivotal moment where it seems hope is lost and then he realises he needs to say the words: BY THE POWER... OF GRAYSKULL... and BAM, have the electricity around him and turn him into He-Man a la the 80s cartoon (minus the old theme music of course). Flash to the sorceress who is now released from her curse and can travel as Zoar from the castle and aid He-Man, vintage toy style.

And then it's on like Donkey Kong.

Just take the best parts of all canons and make something epic please!

Elaborating on what I said earlier. You can kind of do what MYP did, Skeletor has found a way to attack or has come out of 'hiding'. During this time Adam while goofing off finds Castle Greyskull and is introduced to the sword etc.

the problem with He-man and an origin in general is the dual nature of He-man and Adam in the more common media. They sometimes come off as two different characters, who share a body kind of like Thor and Donald Blake. Which might be why the dropped the Donald Blake thing for the movie, it works great for longer term fiction but something shorter it gets in the way.

As was said an origin story is more about how the character grows into the hero or discovers more powers or how to use the totem. The totem in this case is pretty easy. Growth for He-man is a potentially tricky issue in that it could possibly upset fans and you get the 'He-man would never....".

One Gum Drop to rule them all, One Gum Drop to find them,
One Gum Drop to bring them all and in the sweetness bind them
In the Land of Candy where the Gingerbreads lie.
-Tag line for the Candy Land Movie Adaptation

How do you guys feel about an adaptation of the first three episodes of the 2002 cartoon? I think it did a decent job of establishing the characters and the world of Eternia without dragging down the plot.

I also think that the first movie should be like MYP story. Start with an irresponsible/carefree Prince who has no worries until blank hits the fan and Skeletor and his minions are freed. He will learn the history as the story progresses and turns into the champion of Eternia. I think it would be awesome if the movie ended with the Sorceress having a nightmare about the Horde and then waking up yelling Adora's name!!!

I would like to see King Randor being overthrown/imprisoned by Skeletor. Adam along with Cringer, Man-at-arms, and Teela would escape into the wild where they begin the journey to Castle Greyskull to fulfill Adam's destiny. Man they better not screw this movie up!!!

Asking people who are not familiar with MOTU they have told me they would find the movie less desirable to watch if they didn't at least get some backstory.

I think if you start the movie with Marlena landing then you can anchor the planet in the same universe as ours and that will (for some weird reason) make people happy and make it feel more real to them.

In Midwinter, the heat from the oven baking my Shrinky Dinks is all I need!

Asking people who are not familiar with MOTU they have told me they would find the movie less desirable to watch if they didn't at least get some backstory.

I think if you start the movie with Marlena landing then you can anchor the planet in the same universe as ours and that will (for some weird reason) make people happy and make it feel more real to them.

I did think about this myself. I know it is something that would be met with many a groan from fans, bit I also think that a “mainstream” audience would probably take to it.

I don’t think this needs to be done, though, because the main character of the movie would be Adam, who is very much human. Basically, I think that’s what it boils down to. People just want to follow a protagonist that they can relate to. Well, we all can with Adam because, even though he’s technically an alien, he looks like us.

I’m pretty sure the film will start off with some sort of flashback prologue sequence, explaining Eternia and how the Sword of Power works and all that. I know a prologue like this is quite cliché with these types of films, but I suppose they’ve got that reputation because they work.

I do wonder whether they will go with the Queen being from Earth idea. TBH, I actually wouldn't mind that myself. I've always been okay with that idea, but if you start the film off with that then you're pretty much telling the audience from the get-go that the whole film is more or less being told from the Queen's POV. It would be like Sam Witwicky in the Transformers films. I understand why they went down that route there, but it shouldn't be the case here. It should be Adam's film.

Asking people who are not familiar with MOTU they have told me they would find the movie less desirable to watch if they didn't at least get some backstory.

I think if you start the movie with Marlena landing then you can anchor the planet in the same universe as ours and that will (for some weird reason) make people happy and make it feel more real to them.

Hrm, interesting. I like it. She would be a great POV character- at least for the prologue. Then Adam's born, and it becomes his story.

Regardless I think some sort of "origin" or background would need to be given.

Hopefully they learned lessons from John Carter and Green Lantern before they finalize a script and start the project. If they write a terrible script or alienate a certain section of fans it is going to kill the movie.

In Midwinter, the heat from the oven baking my Shrinky Dinks is all I need!